Photographs by Derrick Kevin Georgia
For our piece, we were hoping to satire the lengths some girls go to, or are expected to go through to alter or adjust their appearance through drastic makeup and other means. This was represented by the girls application of paint to her face. One girl begins applying makeup while the other rigorously washes the makeup off her face. This was done in hoping of achieving some contrast.
“Made-up” performed by Nicki and Katelyn, was a visually and conceptually compelling piece. Although they were both adorned in black, there was an immediate contrast between the two performers sitting next to one another on the floor. A selection of beauty products and an over-the-top cosmetic mirror surrounded Katelyn while Nicki sat behind a large bowl filled with water. As the performance began, Nicki began washing her face trying to remove the make-up she was wearing. Simultaneously, Katelyn ritualistically put on make-up. Beginning with mascara, moving to blush and lip-gloss, she ultimately slathered white paint all over her face. The juxtaposition of the two performers helped to shed light on the issue of beauty expectations in society.
ReplyDeleteWhile the concept was very strong and there was obvious attention to detail in this piece, I believe a few subtle changes could make the performance stronger in the future. Since I know Nicki, it was easy for me to tell that she was wearing a lot of make-up compared to what she normally would wear. However, it would have been fun to see Nicki in make-up that was even more over the top: eye shadow and mascara that bleed down her face, and lipstick that smudged and had to be scrubbed off. This visual extreme would act as a nice counter-balance to the face-paint Katelyn used. Given the attention to detail in this first performance, I'm confident that they would have made similar modifications with more time to develop the concept.